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Blinded by the charts: Politicians only see it their way

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Blinded by the charts: Politicians only see it their way00:50

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"We have to stop governing by crisis in this town," Obama said, making clear he blamed Republicans for a failure to achieve compromise on major issues such as immigration reform and a comprehensive deficit reduction agreement.

"We should not be injuring ourselves every few months. We should be investing in ourselves," the President said in advocating a budget approach that includes deficit reduction as well as strategic spending on education, infrastructure and technology.

On immigration, Obama noted that the Democrat-led Senate has passed a reform measure that analysts say would grow the economy and shrink deficits. However, House Republicans have refused to bring up the Senate plan.

"You wouldn't turn down a deal that good," he said. "Congress shouldn't, either."

At the same time, the President said he was open to passing a series of immigration reform measures instead of the comprehensive legislation that won Senate approval -- as long as all the necessary components are included.

Obama also addressed the major issue of the day, saying the HealthCare.gov website problems have hurt efforts to address the biggest contributor to the nation's debt -- rising health care costs.

Asked what lesson he had learned, Obama said that "we probably underestimated the complexities of building out a website." He also said the ordeal showed that "the way the federal government does procurement and IT (information technology) is just generally not very efficient."